Sulusaray or Çiftlik, in Antiquity and the early Middle Ages known as Sebastopolis ( el, Σεβαστούπολις) or Heracleopolis (), is a town and a district of
Tokat Province in the
Black Sea region of
Turkey. Sulusaray is about 68 km from the center of
Tokat, and about 30 km from
Artova town. The site is situated on a plain surrounded by mountains and the
Çekerek river runs near it. The mayor is Şahin Hasgül (
MHP).
Name
The word ''
Sebastopolis'' comes from Greek ''
Sebastos'', the Greek equivalent of the
Latin ''
Augustus'', while ''
polis'' means "city". In some sources the city was named as ''Heracleopolis'' (meaning "the city of
Heracles", a Greek deity symbolizing power and strength).
History
The date of foundation of this ancient city is still unknown. Some sources say that it was first established in the first century during the reign of
Roman emperor Trajan, and that the city was separated from the districts of
Pontus Galaticus/Polemoniacus and was included in the
province of Cappadocia. An
epitaph inscription about this survives. The epitaph was written as a monument for Arrian, the Governor of the region of Cappadocia. In
Ptolemy's time, it was a town in
Pontus Cappadocicus (Ptol. v. 6. § 7), which, according to the
Antonine Itinerary
The Antonine Itinerary ( la, Itinerarium Antonini Augusti, "The Itinerary of the Emperor Antoninus") is a famous ''itinerarium'', a register of the stations and distances along various roads. Seemingly based on official documents, possibly ...
(p. 205), was situated on a route leading from
Tavium to
Sebastia (modern Sivas), and was connected by a road with
Caesarea
Caesarea () ( he, קֵיסָרְיָה, ), ''Keysariya'' or ''Qesarya'', often simplified to Keisarya, and Qaysaria, is an affluent town in north-central Israel, which inherits its name and much of its territory from the ancient city of Caesare ...
(p. 214).
Pliny (vi. 3) places it in the district of
Colopene, and agrees with other authorities in describing it as a small town. (
Hierocl. p. 703)
Architectural pieces recovered during the diggings organized by the Directorate of the
Tokat Museum in 1987 showed that the city was an important settlement during the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods. The artefacts recovered at the
Comana Pontica (Old
Tokat) are very similar to those recovered from the city of Sebastopolis, probably these two ancient cities had a close relationship in the past.
Sebastopolis is at the crossroads of east to west route and south and central to north route. This shows the importance of the city during the
Roman and
Byzantine periods.
The ancient city was surrounded by a city wall made of small, neatly cut stones put together without using mortar. A circular shape temple was discovered at the northeast side of the city, it was made of marble floor. The baths are situated at the eastern part of the Sebastopolis, where the water needed was recovered from the thermal spring located about 3 kilometers to the southwest. Many statues and statuettes, friezes, columns, grave
stele
A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), whe ...
s and epitaphs have been found during excavations.
References
External links
*
District governor's official websiteDistrict municipality's official websiteDistrict municipality's official websiteDistrict municipality's official website
{{Authority control
Populated places in Tokat Province
Roman towns and cities in Turkey
Hellenistic colonies in Anatolia
Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey
Geography of Pontus
Districts of Tokat Province